Blood Orange Poppy Seed Scones

Sometimes I come to write about a new recipe and I freeze. I’m not sure what to say or what to disclose or what to tell. Sometimes, a lot of the times, I want to tell you everything: my dreams, my drama, my stress, the parking ticket. But I don’t. I hold back most times. Mainly because I’m somewhat of a private person, I realize. I kind of want my struggles to be mine, I want to swallow them and hopefully make something out of them.

Sometimes I wonder if that’s a bad trait, or maybe it’s just a bad trait when you have a blog, which can often times become like another version of a reality television show. I’m not interested in that route.

I mean, it’s taken me years to tell my friends everything that’s going on in my life—it’s not easy. I find it easier to be the listener, the friend who nods and gives advice. I’m much better at that.

I think I’ve struggled with this the entire time I’ve had this blog. What is too much. How much should I share. Also, one thing I would never want to do is use my life with others, my relationships with them and just exploit that for likes, comments, attention. That would feel awful. Some things should be sacred and private and belong to people.

I would be a terrible famous person!

The thing that I want to make above all else when life is a little unkind is a biscuit. A warm biscuit and jam and butter. OMG HELLO! What else could take my worries away? Nothing.

But I’ve made a lot of biscuits on this blog so I decided to turn to the biscuit’s English cousin: the-often-times-dry-ass-scone. It’s true. So many scones are dry. But not these.

They’re not biscuits, they’re scones. They’re supposed to be denser and crispier but they should also be soft and layered on the inside. These are laced with crunchy poppy seeds and zest from blood oranges.

And yes, I know, I’ve used blood oranges WAY too much this season but it’s so hard not to! DAT COLOR!

The glaze is a my favorite part. It makes a scone that isn’t dry, even better.

There’s something about the process of setting out a few ingredients and grating the butter, mixing, throwing out the dough that seems to be a potion for therapy. It gives me time to mull and think and mull and think. Have you tried this? I think you should.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and blood orange zest. Rub the two together until you can really smell the blood orange zest and it’s evenly distributed throughout the sugar. Whisk in the all-purpose flour, poppy seeds, baking soda and salt.

Using a box grater, grate the butter into the dry ingredients and mix quickly, breaking up the butter so it’s broken up into pea-sized bits throughout.

Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Using a wooden spoon, mix it together until it forms a shaggy ball. Drop the dough onto a lightly floured counter and knead a few times, being sure to not over handle it, which will result in tough scones. Form the dough into 1 1/2-inch- thick disc. Using a knife, cut the scones into 6 equal triangles. Transfer the scones to the baking sheet and put in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.

Brush the tops with buttermilk and transfer the scones to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centers comes out clean and the scones are golden brown.

While the scones are baking, make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar with the juice from the one blood orange. Since all blood oranges are a different size (I got about 1 tablespoon of blood orange juice) you may need to add a bit more juice or a splash of milk to get it to the right texture.

I know exactly what you mean! I’m tend to look at other blogs to see what they’ve written in hopes that I can get some inspiration to write something – anything – on my post. I’m actually doing that right now. To me, the hardest part about blogging is just writing something interesting to go along with the photos. I also don’t like to talk about personal details too much but my life is also boring, just work and blog, work and blog. What’s a girl to do?

the plate with the scone is from http://suiteonestudio.com/ the mug is from a Japanese ceramic store in NY (forgot the name!) the teacup plate is from Heath ceramics the little bowl holding the honey was made by me! the round bowl holding the glaze is from Heath ceramics

I don’t use fresh blood ranges all that much, but I have some blood orange olive oil that I’ve become obsessed with, and making things like carrot/pumpkin cake and the like without it makes me not want to eat it. I’m such a snob Anyway, these look fantastical and like you said, perfect for an unkind day.

Don’t ever worry about not sharing enough here. In your posts, you come across as genuine and sweet and at the end of the day, your food speaks for itself. Anyway, you can always exploit Miss Amelia – she’ll be none-the-wiser 😉

My local bakery does a blood orange and poppy seed muffin that’s delicious and I’ve never been able to replicate. My husbands 40th is this weekend so I might give these a go as an alternative to the cake and to add a summery pop of colour to the table.

I don’t know why I only just started making scones last year, after half a year I can’t imagen a weekend without them. My favorite ingredients are flax seeds and blueberries but your version looks tempting too, so I’ll probably give it a try soon!

I totally know what you mean! I struggle with the same thing. I’m a much less private person than I used to be (or at least, sometimes I’m surprised I write a blog considering I’m relatively private!), but it can still be hard to share–especially deep feelings or thoughts! Sometimes, I’m more self conscious of family reading it than strangers though! Funny how that works.

About blogging, maybe there can be a balance – one doesn’t need to tell all the deep details of one’s life, but maybe somehow talk about things in a way to give people a sense of who you are, what your likes and dislikes are, etc. Hope this helps! It is a delicate balance….I’ve read blogs where people write about all the details of their lives, and other blogs where no personal details are given at all. It’s nice to get a sense of what someone is like, but boundaries are important too!

I can totally relate. I have a voyeuristic streak, so I love to read about other people’s lives. So I feel like I should share a bit of my life on my cooking blog. But then I hate it when bloggers I follow share too many life problems so I try to be careful not to over share. I don’t want to come across as whiny, you know what I mean?

These are so gorgeous. I could live on morning pastries, no problem. I hear you about finding what to write, but I think people like to hear what you might be struggling with, everyone can relate to those feelings. Love your blog, everything about it.